CH-4: Weapon Arts

I woke up the next day feeling refreshed. Now that I'm at Peak Body Building, I have to get accustomed to it. What is a better way to acclimatize than battles?

Treading the way to Grand Library I pondered about which weapon art should I choose. Obviously, it has to match my roots. Becoming a Peak Body Building not only increased my allowance but also made me eligible to choose a weapon art.

AT THE GRAND LIBRARY

There were a bunch of clan guards talking near the Grand Library of Lin Clan.

"Haha then I told him that he's -"

"Hey isn't that Mr. Excellent? What is he doing here?" Said a newly appointed guard. His fierce-looking senior did not disappoint.

"Oh? You don't know, junior? He is the seventh son of the patriarch, a peak Golden Core True Person. They say he has a demonic nature and is unable to cultivate."

"I also heard that he often comes to Grand Library and training grounds, reading scriptures and practising various weapons all day." Said a second senior. Then the fierce-looking senior continued.

"I also heard that patriarch doesn't favour him, so he might even end up as a mortal all his life."

"Hahaha if it was just that, I heard he is to marry Jiang Clan's mute eldest daughter from a branch, he truly is pitiful hahaha!"

"Excuse me, Seniors, I think you are wrong. If he can't cultivate why I sense Peak Body Building aura from him?"

"This... This is why you should never trust rumours, Junior. Look how wrong they can be..." Said the second senior. Meanwhile, I heard everything loud and clear.

'Calm down, good thoughts. Like anime girls, yeah anime girls. No need to be mad about a bunch of idiots embarrassing themselves in front of their junior. But did the guards become stupider overnight? Calling a direct lineage name? It isn't even a good one! Who thought *Axel Lin+ isn't* sound anywhere near excellent??' (Lin+ isn't read like Lin't)

I made my way into the Grand Library, meeting Matthew Lin, 4th Elder as he is in charge of the Library. He is one of the most influential elders, being the Librarian of the Grand Library. He also ignored previous commotion seeing I had no intent to do otherwise.

"What brings you here, Axel?"

"Responding to the fourth Elder, I just recently achieved Peak Body Building, looking for a suitable weapon art!" 'He obviously knows, why can't he just give it and be done with it ugh'

"Is that so, then which weapon are you looking for?"

"That I will decide after seeing the arts. I practised with all of the common weapons but did not feel a familiarity with them, thus any of them is fine."

"Hmm." The fourth Elder grunted. "Then I will bring all common weapon arts up till third rank high grade and all third ranks of uncommon ones."

Then 4th Elder took out a compass, infusing his Qi into the artefact, booklets and jade scrolls of various lengths flew towards a nearby desk.

"As you know, before choosing the art you can only read the introduction. Arts' grades are determined by their final moves' power output. A third rank high-grade weapon art's final move equals the raw output of Peak Foundation Establishment masters."

"Thanks, 4th Elder for his reminder, I will choose well."

Amongst the arts he brought, I had already read most of their introductions so I skipped those, moving to high-grade and uncommon arts. Of those only three of them stood out:

-Thundering Steel Sabre Arts, a sabre art that encompasses the ferociousness of thunder and sabre.

-Lightning Quickshot Bow Arts, uhh name is Linda iffy, better go next.

- Coiling Lightning Tribulation Whip Arts, a supreme grade art with its final move equalling Early Altar Activation Grandmaster's output!

'I guess the winner is obvious, although supreme grades are powerful, their final moves often leave the user weakened or may even cripple if not done right. Well, there is a long time till I master all of the moves so let's choose it."

"Fourth Elder, I have decided. I will be taking this with me."

"So you chose that one, huh, it is indeed fate." Mumbled the 4th Elder "Be careful while practicing, tribulations don't have eyes. You can take a weapon from training grounds for now, I will order one for you later as a gift for building such a robust body."

"Thanks, Fourth Elder for your generosity!"

After acquiring a potent weapon art I made my way to the training grounds. Boasting an area of 1,5km², one-third of it is allocated to direct line juniors, one other third to the branch juniors, and the remaining area is shared between collateral families and recruited cultivators. Elders get private training grounds, as Middle stage Golden Core True Persons, their power can't be kept with normal arrays.

When I arrived the official in charge greeted me.

"Welcome Seventh Young Master! Let me guide you to the direct lineage section."

"Are any of my siblings there?"

"Currently there is only Eldest Young Master is there, said he wanted to practice before going out to look for opportunities for advancing to Altar Activation!"

"Is that so? Alright, you can leave. I know my way." After shooing the official I took a Whip from the rack, then walked to a secluded place to practice.

"Let's see if I click with it."

Giving the art a quick read I went on to try the first move. Coiling Lightning Tribulation Whip Arts had two sections and three moves in each section, latter section needed being at least Early Foundation Establishment and power levels of the moves corresponded to Late to Peak Foundation Establishment, and as a final move, it could even rival Early Altar Activation!

Imitating the moves of the first section I started practicing. I couldn't perform them without advancing to either Qi Refinement or Allbody Harmony, the next realm of body refinement. Without blood qi or Qi augmenting it, moves were only slightly stronger than normal martial arts. It didn't matter that I couldn't use it for a few months but this saved me quite a sum for the next 10 years. I could basically use this till Peak Foundation Establishment.

Getting a feel of the whip, I started lashing it. The whip was a weapon I had little practice with, making my strikes either miss or coil where I didn't want them to. Frustrated, I kept going till nightfall, only to stop when I realized I was supposed to be resting.

"Shoot, thankfully big sis is not here to scold me."

"I can do it in her stead then. Little Seventh, weren't you supposed to be resting? If I didn't go back to give the arts I borrowed, I wouldn't even know you were injured! You should thank the 4th Elder later." Said a firm voice. It was my eldest brother's.

"Ha-ha-ha eldest brother what do you mean? I was just done practising. It hasn't been that long since I started."

"Did I say anything about how long you were practising?"

"Shit!" I mumbled.

"Don't curse under your breath, people with higher cultivation have better hearing than you could ever imagine. Also, it wouldn't make a great showing of your character during the banquet. Talking about it, how are your preparations going?"

"Brother wait, what banquet again?"

"You don't know?" My brother had a really shocked impression on his face now. "Didn't they tell you, you are getting engaged to Jiang's eldest daughter? A banquet is held to officially announce it and is a farewell event since you are enrolled to the Institute."

"That was real!? I thought it was just a rumour like the one with Mo's youngest! And why did nobody tell me?"

"It's not the time for that, now you should rest and get ready for the banquet. The date is three weeks later, I will take you there."

"Thanks, brother. Then, take care and good luck for fortuitous encounters!"

'I can't believe that bastard even kept my engagement a secret from me! Like how much more sour you can be! Is this how should a patriarch behave? That is exactly why rumours of me being trash are all around...'

'Screw it, let's rest for now.'

I was quite restless that night.